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Topic: Next Step After Top Roping? (Read 854 times)

I am a new climber that has done several top rop climbs. Someone suggest that sport climbing is a good next step. The few people I climb with are also new so we do not have any leaders yet to follow. Any suggestions on beginners sport routes near Connecticut?

Unfortunately I don't know much about sport climbing in the connecticut area, but I do have a comment on sport leading as a next step after top roping. Don't be afraid to get a set of nuts and learn to place pro. I had the same thought to get into sport climbing because I was skeptical of placing my own pro, but was (happily) convinced to buy a set of nuts and start leading very easy trad. I'm not putting down sport climbing as a next step, but if what you really want to do is trad-climb, don't think of sport as an interim step.Anywho, I know that there is some sport climbing on the crags in central MA, but I have no personal experience with it. Check out http://westernmacc.com/ and see what they have to say. My understanding of the ethics history would make me think that you are going to find very little sport in CT with more bolts the closer you get to Rumney, but I may be way off. Gym leading is another possibility if you don't want to go the trad route.DrewD

Thanks Drew. I would like to try some Trad with placing my own protection but have been told that should be left to the "experienced" climbing. I was thinking about buying some nuts or cams and your response now convinced me to "just do it". Thanks again for your reply - Rock On!

Hogwash! the common theory these days is that if you don't pay a guide big bucks to learn how to trad climb you will most certainly die and get bashed silly on the internet. Yes you can die, yes you may be called a n00b on line, yes it would be wonderfull to be able to afford a guide but yes you can also teach yourself if you read good books, practice and have a good sense of self preservation. The key is practice. The more you do it the better you get. If you constantly go out to the crag and fiddle with your toys, set up anchors, bounce test them, try to make them fail, boulder a bunch and generaly put in a lot of time at the crag you will start to get the hang of it. Hopfully some crusty old fart who knows a thing or two will find you there solo some day and turn you into a rope slave. Then you may learn all kinds of good stuff and get up a bunch of cool climbs. None of this will happen if you just sit a home wishing you had the $$$ to take a class. Additionaly takeing the class is a waste of money if you don't put the time in to practice. Get comfortable on the rock, get comfortable with the gear, If you can afford a day with a guide great!! but you still have to put your time in. JMOP

On the subject of easy trad...what are some good lines in NH that are super easy and have decent pro? Someone was talking about 5.2, I don't know of any trad that easy in the area. whitehorse and whatnot are mostly .6ish on their easier I think...

Ben Look at lost horizon in the routes section.There are a couple of trad 5.4s that are well protected and fun.Plus there are a bunch of other fun things to do there.I know it gets sun and usually dries pretty quickly after a rain in the summer.Also some easier 5.5s at Square ledge that are fun trad lines.Have fun. Jim

Hmm looks like a wide open field to explore, Nice question new climber!So here are some general ideas based on what you said you were looking for that might help and that you might find you like--I offer them based on my own experiences and share some of what I've learned from others who know a lot more than I do because they've done more climbing sucessfully, more varied climbing and for far longer than I have and I second some of what everyone here has said on the thread with hoepfully some extra reasons why.

You mention you've done several top rope climbs which if it is true is not a lot. I would do a lot more to check that my experience covers the scope of different kinds of climbing moves I might want to use. For that books are fine to compare technical moves and strategies on moves and practice. And as someone said bouldering for balance and moves too.

Why do people fall in climbing? I guess it's a misstep, a loss of balance and then just simply that the climb step or sequence is beyond their technical ability. *** or see tradmanclimbz below for a good reason to fall. An inexperienced belayer could accidently pull you off , step off balance themselves at the belay, or worse not be there when you need it for some reason characteristic of human nature, like their mind wanders, they get confused, tired, make a mistake or become afraid. So you need to be sure you have good belay experience as a leader and as a second.

Falls I think happen way more often if you are changing your focus from the climbing itself to doing something else, like placing protection. So since climbing is more than just the feat of physically accomplishing the moves, maybe you could learn some interesting stuff by setting up the protection first from a top rope and getting used to leading your rope through pre-set protection on a route. Then using the same route you set up and practised from via top rope, you could practice placing the gear leading the route--- now that you have some knowledge of. Having some idea in advance allows you to be free to work on the coordination and balance aspects of the technique of placing protection securely--and helps get it down to more of a reflex than a slow struggle. Just an idea, which you may or may not find helpful. Some people are just naturals at balance. Multi pitch climbs are really different from top roping and there is so much more to think about. And of course as others have said, you generally make more of a commitment. Maybe compromise, I agree with the idea someone mentioned of choosing established routes with fixed belays for safety and bailing out. Many in the guidebooks describe the kind of gear req'ts you might want to use so that helps--or ask someone in advance.

Also, you could practice with slings on less technical routes to develop some reflex thinking about how falls might occur, how might you protect yourself in a fall, and work a lot with your belayer on successful communication when you are out of view or sound and just plain get more experience belaying as leader and as second. I briefly checked out Ross Pond in the northeastern corner of Connecticut one time and there was some fun stuff to choose from there like this, Off route 395 I think.There are generally lesser in nature and fewer in number objective risks, like falling rock, on estalished top rope routes although you always need to be aware of these possibilities. So making a beeline for rugged and / or remote terrain to begin playing and testing, placing your gear, when it will most certainly take you longer and you will be less efficient ,invites more risk.

A big part of climbing is learning to read the terrain. What you see from the ground looking up or down , what you see when watching other climbers , whether in leading you or from the ground on a sport route, never really, fully, reveals what it's like when you get there in fact climbing yourself. So again this takes a lot of experience and there are no short cuts in my view to doing the climbs first to learn how to do this, then leading someone else. Transitioning by doing both, with as someone said, developing your ability to read terrain by doing more climbing as a second on more technical climbs with an experienced leader to experience the variety of climb conditions and variety of terrain, then doing also your own climbs on less technical easier climbs leading is a solid strategy seems to me.

Shorter routes, short approaches can build more confidence for accomplisment in not getting stuck somewhere. If you don't have experience already then it's kind of hard to know how long it will take you to do the pitches on the climb. For me time flies really fast when climbing.

So in dealing with the many unknowns in climbing, having a full repertoire of ways to deal with a great variety of possibilities and even in good conditions, makes the best challenges more enjoyable and more successful. As I think everyone has said so far, experience in applying concepts, that is after you know them by heart, is the key to improving your climbing and safety while doing do. For me, there is nothing like having someone who knows what they are doing show you. It's a much smoother process and ismore likely to build confidence which helps climbing and you progress faster. A hit and miss experimental strategy can work of course, it just depends on what you are looking for and what is possible for you moneywise. If you hire a professional or join with one or more to share the costs to learn from someone who is a good teacher and has solid experience, then even though you can't learn it all in one go, you will certainly have some parameters that allow you to successfully experiment more effectively on your own. If you have a lot of time, have many years to play around then it must be very satisfying to learn step by step on your own. Also why not try the many rock climb festivals around, I haven't been to it but somewhere on NECLimbs someone mentioned a Climbfest coming up around Boston. This is a great way I think to explore your options and talk to knowledgeable people in person.

People climbing at a cliff or wherever do kind of chat a lot, and people I find are very quick to offer up opinions on what you should do or not do just out of enthusiasm for the activity, HOWEVER, you have to take what they say with a grain of salt. That is, whatever they advise is based on their own experience, which can be very limited or very big. I think everyone has a different comfort level with how they manage a climb and how they measure risk that they want to take.

In any case, best wishes for some great climbing---and lots of it! (Just like the climbers at any cliff, it was fun sharing my long view with you . Hope it helps! )

ps modification: I use a similar concept but in a different way like tramanclimbz says below. I agree that choosing a steeper climb to lead, pushing your limit I guess, and failing thus finding yourself hanging on a secure protection will be good experience because if it is all too easy for you on low end technical stuff, you don't reach the "desperate" move level where believe me you sure can learn a lot. I"ve heard a lot about the idea of "pushing your limits" as indicated by a fall to hang sequence I guess, but it's not my thing. I do really enjoy doing climbs which has a least one pitch way beyond my technical level when I second a perfect leader... the reason I don't mind falling in that scenario is that it is a controlled fall. I've seen a number of leader falls on highly technical terrain by other climbing teams, (not on my own climbs tho) and it is not I think so easy to control the fall that is accidental in nature. But also there are probably a lot of falls where you know you are about to go and just control the fall safely. So falling to is a kind of personal preference or choice often too.

Ben, if youy lead sport 10 then obviously you can climb a bit and have a decent ammount of strength. Don't be as concerned with the grade of the trad rt you get on. Be more concerned with how good the gear is. A 5.8 with excelent gear or even a 5.9 with excelent gear may be well within your abilitys to get on safely. Maby you have to hang but you will learn a lot more about placeing and trusting your gear after a few thrashes up a steeper well protected climb than you will in months of easy blocky anklebusters. JMOP